g5 



A N 



ADDRESS 



PELIVEKEIl AT THE 



CLOSE OF THE ANNUAL EXAMINATION 



SEPTEMBER 28, 1844. 



By WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 



of ALBANY. 



PITTSFIELD : 

E . P . I. I T T L F. , PUBLISHER. 

1844. 



YOUNG LADIES' INStofTE^ 



PITTSFIELD, Mass. 




i 



AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THB 



CLOSE OF THE ANNUAL EXAMINATION 



YOUNG LADIES' INSTITUTE, 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. 



SEPTEMBER 28, 1844. 



By WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 

OF ALBANY. 



PITTSFIELD : 

E. P. LITTLE, PUBLISHER, 



1844. 



,1\ 



C. VAN BENTHUYSEN AND CO., PRINTERS, ALBANY. 



HBW YORK MOU*. U*R. 



ADDRESS 



It has happened, I doubt not, to almost 
every one, who has been led by his vocation, 
frequently to address public assemblies, that 
now and then there has occurred an occasion, 
which was in itself so eloquent, that he has 
felt embarrassed by the apprehension that it 
might be belittled by any thing he could say. 
I confess to you that I have much of this feel- 
ing in appearing before you this afternoon. 
There is a charm in female loveliness, especi- 
ally in the grace and beauty of the female 
mind, that will make itself felt, where the 
voice of man, uttering even its loftiest senti- 
ments, will seem tame and powerless. How- 
ever, when I consented to undertake this 
service, I knew the disadvantage under which 
I should speak ; arid it ill becomes me now to 



advert to it in the way of apology. My busi- 
ness is, to endeavour to turn the brief period 
allotted to this exercise to as good account as 
I can ; and though the occasion shuts me up 
to a somewhat hackneyed topic — female edu- 
cation, — it is a topic in relation to which you 
are in no danger of hearing, or thinking, or 
doing, too much. I need not say that your 
high appreciation of this subject is understood 
abroad as well as at home — this occasion itself 
would supersede the necessity of all other 
evidence of it; but this very circumstance 
conveys to me an assurance that you will 
listen patiently to my remarks, even though 
they should be a mere repetition of that which 
previous repetition has rendered familiar to 
you. My object will be to illustrate very 
briefly the importance of an elevated standard 
of female education to the great cause of 
human happiness. 

To sketch even an outline of a complete 
system of female education, would exceed the 
limits of the present address ■ — much more of 
the portion of it which can be given to that 
particular topic. There are, however, two 
characteristics absolutely essential to a perfect 



system, upon which I propose for a moment 

to dwell. 

In the first place, such a system must in- 
clude the due culture of all the faculties. 

Woman, like man, is a compound being, 
and is gifted with faculties of various kinds — 
each designed by her Creator to answer some 
important end. To suppose that she possesses 
any faculties which may not be turned to pro- 
fitable account, either in elevating her cha- 
racter, or increasing her usefulness, or both, 
were a reflection upon the Creator's wisdom: 
it were to attribute to Him a waste of omni- 
potent energy, in giving existence to that 
which, to say the least, might just as well 
not have existed at all. But if her faculties 
are all given for some important purpose, it is 
manifest that they are given to be developed 
and subjected to suitable exercise — otherwise 
that purpose can never be accomplished. I 
do not say that a very imperfect development — 
such as is incident to the most limited advan- 
tages of education — may not save her from 
being a cumberer of the ground — may not 
even secure to her a good degree of usefulness 
in some of her relations ; but it is impossi- 



ble that any thing short of that general culture 
which secures the right development of all 
the faculties, should render her what she is 
capable of being — what Heaven designed that 
she should be, in all her relations. She is 
constituted with the elements of a noble being ; 
but the moulding of these elements is com- 
mitted partly to herself, and partly to those 
under whose guidance and instruction Provi- 
dence places her. 

Time has been when it might have been 
needful, in speaking on the subject of female 
education, to vindicate the claims of woman 
to a course of intellectual discipline ; to reason 
gravely with parents, with a view to convince 
them that the capabilities of their daughters 
do not lie chiefly in their fingers. Happily, 
we have fallen upon a brighter period ; and 
you, young ladies, however it may have fared 
with your mothers, or even some of your older 
sisters — you are witnesses that female educa- 
tion at this day is something more than the 
training of the hands or the feet; — that it 
puts in requisition the head — - aye, and some- 
times makes the head ache, from delving 
away at some abstruse problem, or from lin- 



gering long in the region of lines and angles* 
But while the spirit of the age in relation to 
this subject saves me from the necessity of 
dwelling upon it, inasmuch as it is now uni- 
versally conceded that the female mind is to be 
educated, it may not be amiss to suggest that 
that system is the most perfect, which provides 
for a complete and harmonious intellectual 
development. So differently are different minds 
constituted, — possessing originally the various 
faculties in different degrees of strength, — • 
that it often becomes an exceedingly difficult 
matter to direct the early training in such a 
way as to secure the best result- — in other 
words, so as to subject each of the faculties to 
a high degree of culture, and at the same time 
preserve a suitable balance among them alL 
And this difficulty is increased by the fact that 
there are usually many minds associated under 
the same general course of training; and that 
might be imperatively required by one, which 
would be of little or no importance to another. 
Hence it is a matter of great moment, that a 
teacher should be discriminating in his instruc- 
tions ; and that, while they are, as they neces- 
sarily must be, to a great extent, of a general 



character, they should also have respect, so 
far as possible, to the actual diversity of intel- 
lect that exists among his pupils. Let it be 
his aim, and let it be their aim, to secure to 
them the greatest amount of intellectual cul- 
ture and vigor of which they are susceptible. 
If they are constitutionally deficient in respect 
to any faculty, let that deficiency be made up 
by extraordinary care and diligence. Or, if 
they possess any faculty in uncommon strength, 
let them make the most of it they can in con- 
sistency with that attention to the other facul- 
ties, which is essential to a well balanced 
mind. That female whose intellectual train- 
ing has been rightly conducted, and who has 
diligently improved the advantages she has 
enjoyed, is prepared to enter the world not 
only with a mind richly stored with useful 
knowledge, but with a mind capable of com- 
manding its own powers, and may I not add — 
^capable of being satisfied with present at- 
tainments. 

But woman has a moral as well as intellec- 
tual nature ; and to neglect the former were 
even more dangerous — more criminal, than 
to neglect the latter. With this part of the 



education of young females, parents are espe- 
cially entrusted; but it is also a matter in 
relation to which teachers have much to do ; 
while it is hardly necessary to add, that a large 
part of the responsibility rests upon themselves. 
As you would render your intellectual acqui- 
sitions, young ladies, of any real account, you 
must join with them the whole assemblage of 
the moral virtues : you must exhibit the graces 
of the understanding and the virtues of the 
heart, growing upon the same stock. Espe- 
cially, you must cultivate a benevolent dis- 
position — that pure and expansive spirit of 
good will, that even delights to make sacrifices 
for the benefit of others. Need I say that this 
spirit is the product of Christianity, and no- 
thing else ; and hence, in order to possess the 
true moral virtues, you must yield yourselves 
to the renovating influence of the gospel. 
Christianity, divine Christianity, is the breath 
from Heaven, that will communicate to your 
minds a quickening impulse and a celestial 
tendency. 

If the time would permit, I might speak to 
you at length of the danger of divorcing the 
intellectual from the moral in female charac- 

B 



10 

ter; or of cultivating the former at the ex- 
pense, and to the neglect, of the latter. No 
more striking example of this occurs to me 
at this moment than the gifted Madam De 
Stael. Such was the original vigor of her 
mind, and such the culture to which it had 
been subjected, that she gained an influence 
not only in the literary but the political world, 
to which few of her contemporaries, of either 
sex, ever attained. She feared not Napoleon 
so much as Napoleon feared her. What she 
uttered or wrote was matter to be pondered by 
the kings and princes of the earth. Even now, 
she lives in her productions as one of the 
brightest stars in the world of letters. But it 
is an intellectual glory that surrounds her 
name, and nothing else. Though never, so 
far as I know, the advocate of infidel doc- 
trines, she evinced in her ordinary deportment 
no practical reverence for Christianity: she 
absolutely cut loose from religion, morality, 
even decency, and stands, and must forever 
stand, not so much an example as a beacon to 
her sex. Shall I mention a character now to 
illustrate the opposite of this — the union of a 
cultivated genius and a cultivated heart ? It 



11 

shall be Madam De StaeTs own daughter 

the late Dutchess De Broglie. She inherited 
in no small degree her mother's intellect, and 
her mind was improved by the best advantages 
which Europe could furnish ; but by a strange, 
though blessed, inconsistency on the part of 
her wayward parent, she was committed in 
her youth to the guidance of an excellent 
minister of the gospel, and by the blessing of 
God accompanying his influence, she became, 
amidst all the worldly splendour which sur- 
rounded her, an exemplary professor of Chris- 
tianity. And her life was an untiring course 
of benevolent action. She moved about like 
an angel of mercy, amidst scenes of want and 
sorrow. She had an ear that was quick to 
catch the faintest sigh from the desolate or 
smitten heart. The influence which talents 
and station secured to her, she consecrated 
with most scrupulous fidelity to the service of 
God and the benefit of her race. As she was 
no stranger in the royal palace, she diffused 
the savour of her piety even there; and the 
King's daughters were not ashamed to own 
her as a model. Death has removed her to a 
higher sphere, but there are many who still 



12 

walk in the light of her example, and are re- 
freshed by the remembrance of her virtues. Is 
the character of the mother or the daughter, 
think you, now the object of the greater vene- 
ration ? Does not the comparison abundantly 
evince that genius without virtue, gives, after 
a little, but a dim and sickly light; that genius 
combined with virtue shines, despite even of 
the grave, with an inextinguishable radiance, 
I have adverted to the nobler parts of 
woman's nature — viz., the intellectual and 
moral; but she has another set of faculties 
still, which, though of an humbler character, 
can by no means be safely neglected — I mean 
the physical faculties ■ — every thing connected 
with her corporeal constitution. I need not 
say that a proper attention to this is essential 
to bodily health ; and that it would prevent no 
inconsiderable degree of the whole amount of 
human suffering. Sickness and pain are the 
penalty for a violation of the laws of our phy- 
sical nature; and the penalty follows the 
offence by an unchangeable ordinance of 
Heaven. Besides, as the body is the servant 
of the soul, or in other words, the organ of 
its operations, it is manifest that the penalty 



13 

of this neglect reaches farther than to the 
body — it takes effect also upon the mind — 
in repressing its energies, and diminishing its 
power of action, and even quenching the lire 
of its native aspirations. It is wonderful to 
observe to what extent the history of genius 
is the history of premature deaths ; and how 
large a portion of them have evidently been 
occasioned by a disregard to those laws which 
the Creator has incorporated with our physi- 
cal existence. 

It cannot be denied that young females, 
during the course of their education, are ex- 
posed to some peculiar temptations to this 
species of neglect which I am considering. 
In their eagerness to improve to the utmost 
their opportunities for intellectual culture, they 
often make war upon their physical constitu- 
tion : in their concern to treasure the jewel, 
they seem ready to throw away the casket. 
Especially are they in danger of neglecting 
bodily exercise, and some ambitious spirits 
will even suffer their studies to entrench upon 
the proper hours for sleep; little imagining 
that this process, while it gradually under- 
mines the constitution, is always immediately 



14 

followed by a corresponding lassitude and 
diminution of mental vigor. If I mistake 
not, young ladies are much more exposed to 
this evil than youth of the other sex ; for the 
latter have greater facilities for almost every 
kind of exercise, unless indeed it be that of 
their tongues, than the former; and the cus- 
toms of society would seem to allow a much 
wider range to the one than to the other. And 
the danger is often rendered the greater by the 
fact that they are separated from their parents 
or natural guardians, who might be expected 
to feel the deepest interest for them in this 
respect as in every other; though this diffi- 
culty may be, and doubtless in very many 
cases is, entirely obviated by the vigilant and 
faithful attentions of their teachers. But let 
teachers do their best, and let parents do their 
best, and it will all be to little purpose, unless 
the young lady herself will be true to her own 
interests — unless she will pay due respect to 
the laws of her physical nature. It is of great 
importance, in order to guard against this evil, 
that she have her fixed hours of exercise and 
of rest, as well as of study; and consider her- 
self pledged to the former as sacredly as to the 



15 

latter. It would be impossible for me, young 
ladies, to do justice to this subject in a length* 
ened address — much less in a passing re- 
mark ; but so deeply am I impressed with its 
importance, as connected not only with your 
bodily health, but your mental and moral im- 
provement, that I should not be true either to 
my duty or your interests, if I should not urge 
it upon you as a matter of paramount concern. 
I could tell you of young females, who, for 
their culpable neglect of themselves during 
the period of their education, have ever since 
been labouring under some painful — perhaps 
some incurable — malady. I could point you 
to some tine specimens of female genius, 
which, for this same reason, are burning with 
diminished splendour, and seem likely soon to 
be quenched in the night of death. Aye, and 
I could conduct you to many a grave, where, 
if the whole truth had been told upon the 
monument, you would have read, not merely 
that a promising young female was entombed 
there, but that the malady of which she died 
had its origin in self-neglect, while her physi- 
cal faculties were in the process of develop- 
ment. These facts, young ladies, are of moni 



16 

tory import; and I advert to them, not as indi- 
cating dangers against which you may not 
easily guard, but dangers which are really of 
a threatening character, when they are met in 
any other spirit than that of the most careful 
vigilance. Let me say then, you owe it to 
yourselves, you owe it to your parents, you 
owe it to society, you owe it to Heaven, that 
you give due heed to the cultivation of your 
physical nature. 

There is one important branch of education 
that can hardly be said to relate exclusively 
to either set of faculties of which I have 
spoken, — but has more or less to do with all 
of them — I mean the cultivation of the man- 
ners. The importance of this may most easily 
be judged of by a comparison of two young 
females, the one of cultivated, the other of 
uncultivated, manners. Admit, if you please, 
that they are upon a level in respect to in- 
tellectual endowments and acquirements, — ■ 
yet what a difference will the mere circum- 
stance of manners make, in their facilities of 
usefulness and in the estimate that will be 
formed of them! The one will find easy 
access to an intelligent and polished circle — 



17 

the other, at the moment of her introduction, 
produces the impression that she is out of her 
element, and perhaps, that her presence might 
just as well as not he dispensed with. The 
one may probahly be treated with marked 
attention — the other, possibly, with more 
than apparent neglect. The one will find 
friends every where ■ — the other will move 
about the world as a stranger. The one may 
chance to pass for even more than she is 
worth — the other will almost certainly pass 
for less. This, then, is a matter to which 
great attention should be paid ; and it becomes 
a question of no small interest, in what way 
the desired object is to be gained. 

I would say then, that good manners have 
their foundation in good dispositions — they 
are simply the acting out of a benevolent tem- 
per, under the guidance of discretion and good 
taste. There is a charm in the expression of 
simple benevolence, which goes irresistably 
to the heart ; and which, especially when ac- 
companied with intelligence, can scarcely fail 
to render its possessor an attractive object. 
But it is essential to the perfection of good 

manners, that there should be that simple and 
c 



18 

graceful acting out of the feelings which is 
the opposite of all awkwardness, and espe- 
cially of all affectation. Nothing must be 
done merely for effect ■ — nothing in the spirit 
of an ostentatious vanity. It would be well 
for young ladies who may be tempted to take 
airs with a view to increase their personal 
attractions, to reflect that all such attempts 
are sure to recoil on the individuals who make 
them ; for the miserable vanity which prompts 
to them, is not concealed even by a veil of 
gauze. I hardly need add, that it is important 
to be acquainted with the forms of society, in 
order to mingle in it with freedom or comfort ; 
and this of course can be the result of nothing 
but experience ; but if you give heed to this 
only, and neglect the cultivation of benevolent 
dispositions, you have a superstructure with- 
out a foundation — if you have agreeable 
manners, you have them at the expense of 
playing the hypocrite. 

What I have said may suffice to show that 
the true system of female education must 
include the culture of all the powers — intel- 
lectual, moral and physical; but the other 
thought which I proposed to bring out is, that 



19 

this culture should be directed with reference 
to the sphere to which woman is destined. ' 

If I lived on the other side of the ocean, 
and were addressing an audience in Her 
Majesty's dominions, I might possibly be re- 
strained, either by loyalty or delicacy, from say- 
ing that I do not regard the world of politics 
as exactly the sphere for lovely woman ; but 
as I am out of the Queen's jurisdiction as well 
as out of her hearing, and as I expect never 
to be the subject either of a king or a queen, 
I will venture to say, with all my admiration 
of the grace and dignity with which the Brit 
ish throne is now occupied, that to my repub- 
lican eye, a throne seems, after all, scarcely 
a fitting place for a young female — that her 
hand looks to me too delicate to wield the 
engine of national power ; that her voice is 
too sweet to be used in giving out words of 
command to those who command armies; 
that her ear is too exquisitely attuned to be 
shocked by the din of national conflict or the 
convulsions incident to political ambition. 
But I am far from saying that we must look 
abroad to find woman out of her place ; for it 
has come to pass, in these latter years, that 



20 

we have women at home who make a despe- 
rate effort to climb up where they may be 
seen; who flatter themselves that they have 
a mission to harangue the multitude; and, 
with this impression, sail about the world to 
do men's work, under the banner of an ima- 
ginary philanthropy. If there are any here, 
who like this feature of the times, I am sure I 
shall not stop to dispute them — non dispu- 
tandum de gustibus — but I cannot forbear 
saying for myself, that I eschew it with most 
unaffected cordiality; and it would scarcely 
cost me more pain to know that my daughter 
was shut up for life in a nunnery, than that 
she was going up and down the world on the 
offensive errand of haranguing promiscuous 
assemblies. But do you ask me, where the 
province of woman actually lies ? I answer, 
first of all, her province is in the family — 
where she may find channels for her benevo- 
lent and holy influence, in the tenderest rela- 
tions of life. Her province is in circles of 
social intelligence and refinement, where 
talents, and accomplishments, and cheerful 
and kind affections, can always find play. 
Her province is in the walks of philanthropy, 



21 

where she can go, angel-like, to supply the 
wants of the needy, or to soften the couch of 
the dying. And if she is capable of such ser- 
vice, she is not out of her element, when she 
takes her pen to send out into the world les- 
sons of truth and virtue : in this way she may, 
with perfect decorum, make her voice heard 
and her good influence felt, to the ends of the 
earth. And if such be her province, let her 
be educated with reference to it. Let it be 
impressed upon her early what she has to do, 
and let the end of her education be to qualify 
her to do it. The time does not permit me to 
show wherein the education of the sexes 
should differ in consideration of their different 
destinations ; but this may be safely left to the 
just and discriminating judgment of those to 
whom their education is entrusted. 

I have endeavoured thus far to show you 
what constitutes an elevated standard of fe- 
male education. Let me now very briefly 
illustrate the influence which this is fitted to 
exert upon the great cause of human happi- 
ness. 

And the first thought which here obviously 
suggests itself is, that, as a general rule, near- 



22 

ly half of every community is composed of 
females ; and as it will universally be admit- 
ted that intelligence and virtue are favourable 
to the happiness of the individuals who are 
the subjects of them, so it must also be ad- 
mitted that that system of education that 
forms to intelligence and virtue, contributes to 
elevate the character and improve the condi- 
tion of its subjects. Let the female portion 
then of any community, or if you please of 
the whole world, be rightly educated — let 
their faculties be so developed and trained as 
to secure permanently their legitimate and 
healthful exercise, — and provision is made at 
once for the elevation and happiness of nearly 
half of the race ; and thus a mighty step is 
taken toward the universal renovation of hu- 
man society. 

But it is the indirect influence to which I 
would chiefly direct your attention — I mean 
the influence which highly cultivated females 
exert upon our own sex — in purifying the 
fountains of social enjoyment, and in eleva- 
ting the general standard of intellectual and 
moral character. 

I shall surely neither let out any secret, or 

LtfC. 



23 

make any humbling acknowledgment, in say* 
ing that nature, or rather the God of nature, 
has given to woman a mysterious dominion 
over the heart of man ; has furnished her with 
some silken invisible chord by which she can 
often, in her weakness, bind the man of might, 
and lay him not only a willing, but most de- 
lighted, captive at her feet. Suppose then 
that, superadded to this, there be the charm 
of a highly cultivated intellect, of sensibilities 
refined and elevated by the influences of 
Christianity, of manners in which the grace 
of the intellectual and the grace of the moral, 
are beautifully commingled — who can esti- 
mate the influence which a young female, 
possessing such attractions, must almost neces- 
sarily exert upon those of the other sex with 
whom she associates ? Her intelligence will 
improve their minds; her gracefulness will 
improve their manners; her unaffected and 
generous sensibility will quicken them to a 
higher sense of the right, and to nobler im- 
pulses of humane and virtuous feeling ; and 
her reverence for God and her devotion to his 
service, will be like a still but yet mighty voice 
calling them towards the path that leads to 



24 

Heaven. I am willing this matter should he 
tested hy experience. If you can find that 
community where there is the greatest amount 
of female cultivation, both intellectual and 
moral, then I venture to say you will have 
found that, where the youth of our sex are 
growing up with most that is exemplary and 
attractive, both in their sentiments and mari- 
ners. 

But in ordinary cases, the young female, 
such as I am describing, is, at no distant 
period, transferred to other and yet more im- 
portant spheres of action. She becomes the 
head of a family — has new interests to con- 
sult, and new cares devolving upon her ; but 
still she meets nothing for which her previous 
education has not amply prepared her. Her 
influence as a wife — unless she happens to 
be cursed with a husband that has not a mind 
to estimate her qualities, or a heart to feel her 
power — is as benign as it is efficient. She 
quickens his intellect by her intelligent con- 
versation. She assists him in forming useful 
and benevolent plans. She meets him as a 
good angel, to encourage him amidst difficul- 
ties, to cheer him in sorrow, to strengthen hk&i 



25 

in weakness, to co-operate with him, silently 
it may be, but most effectually, for the benefit 
of his fellow men. In short, though she keeps 
at home, and never stands forth in an obtru- 
sive attitude, her voice is heard in his words, 
her hand is felt in his movements — -I had 
almost said, her very heart beats in his pulsa- 
tions. View her also in the character of 
a mother — surrounded with an immortal 
charge — entrusted with the first direction of 
minds that are to survive the material uni- 
verse, and to exist forever in joy or wo, ac- 
cording to the character which is formed here. 
She watches the first opening of the faculties, 
as the signal for commencing her course of 
instruction. She remembers that the earliest 
intellectual and moral exercises look toward 
the formation of habits; and that the habits 
ultimately decide the character; and that 
every wrong impression which the mind re- 
ceives at that early period, is a seed of evil 
sown in a most fruitful soil ; and hence she 
labours with untiring zeal to inspire, as early 
as possible, the love of knowledge, and truth, 
and wisdom — in other words, to train all the 
faculties to the office for which the Creator 



26 

designed them. And she keeps at this dim- 
cult but yet delightful vocation, as her child- 
ren grow up around her, guarding them from 
evil and exciting and alluring them to good ; 
and though her efforts may sometimes be 
counteracted by the influence of temptation 
upon a naturally unfilial and rebellious spirit, 
yet in all ordinary cases she may expect to 
find part of her reward in the well being and 
the well doing of her children. It is accord- 
ing to the common order of God's providence, 
that they will grow up with enlightened 
minds and virtuous habits, and will ere long 
stand as pillars in society — perhaps pillars in 
the temple of our God. Suppose such a con- 
jugal and maternal influence as this to be uni- 
versally diffused through a community, — 
would you ask for any other pledge that that 
community would draw towards it the admir- 
ing homage of the whole world ? 

But we have not yet explored the whole 
field of woman's influence. Though her most 
important duties no doubt lie in her own 
family, yet there are many channels of use- 
fulness open to her in the general relations she 
sustains to society. What a charm does a lady 



27 

whose mind is well cultivated and well direct- 
ed, throw over the social circle. Her presence 
imparts to it dignity as well as grace ; it not 
only operates as a restraint upon every ap- 
proach to indecent levity of manners, but 
frequently also as an encouragement to virtu- 
ous aspirations and generous actions. And 
then how much is she likely to accomplish in 
the retired walks of charity. Her cultivated 
intellect enables her to devise the best means 
for the accomplishment of benevolent objects; 
her cultivated affections dispose her to employ 
these means according to her ability; and 
thus her whole life becomes a course of de- 
lightful obedience to the law of kindness. I 
know there are many females whose names 
stand high on the record of charity, and will 
forever stand high on the record of Heaven, 
whose opportunities for intellectual culture 
have been but meagre, and whose attainments 
are proportionably limited : but in these cases, 
the moral faculties have been trained, possibly 
self- trained, though the intellectual have been 
neglected; and even in these, the character 
would have risen to a loftier elevation, if the 
intellect as well as the heart had received due 
culture. 



28 

I hardly need add — for indeed I have al- 
ready adverted to the fact — that it is within 
the legitimate province of woman to aid in 
guiding public taste and public morals, and 
thus forming the character of her age, by 
means of her pen. She is peculiarly adapted 
to figure in the more tasteful departments of 
literature : she has an eye that is quick to dis- 
cern the beautiful, and her imagination not 
unfrequently takes a lofty as well as graceful 
flight, and she pours out thoughts and feel- 
ings that will make themselves felt in a glow 
of admiration, perhaps on the opposite side 
of the globe. And sometimes too, she shows 
herself at home in the abstruse and the pro- 
found, and brings up from the deep places of 
science, that which many a lord of crea- 
tion has not the mind to comprehend. I 
might make out a list of female writers of the 
present age — not a small part of which should 
be American names — who are exerting an 
influence on the character of their race, greater 
and better than we can adequately estimate ; 
but I will only point you to that bright sun 
in the firmament of female intellect and vir- 
tue — Hannah More — a sun which, in one 
sense, has sunk beneath the horizon, and in 



29 

another, is shining in full- orbed glory, — or 
rather, with an ever increasing brilliancy. 
Her productions, during her life, exerted an 
influence in the highest as well as the lowest 
circles ; in educating the heir of the throne as 
well as in diffusing contentment through the 
cottage. And since she has gone to her rest and 
her reward, they lift up a voice for truth and 
virtue every where; and the name of their 
author will be revered, and her memory che- 
rished, and her influence felt, till literature 
and patriotism and virtue shall have achieved 
their final conquests. I admit that the world 
has yet seen but one Hannah More ; but it has 
seen many who have partaken of her spirit 
and her virtues ; and we trust it may yet see 
many more, whose works may accomplish as 
much for their generation, and whose names 
may descend to posterity as fragrant and 
bright as hers. 

I am willing to hope that I have said 
enough to show, that the cause of female edu- 
cation is vital to the great cause of human 
happiness. And now, if I could make myself 
heard through all the high and low places of 
my country, I would not leave a single inha- 



30 

bited spot unreached by an earnest expostula- 
tion to guard the interests of the nation and 
the age, by elevating the standard of female 
improvement. I would say to the man who 
loves his country — educate your daughters, 
and they will stand the pillars to your institu- 
tions — they will, by an indirect influence, 
check that spirit of insubordination and licen- 
tiousness, which threatens to rob us of trea- 
sure that was purchased by our fathers' blood. 
I would say especially to the demagogue, who 
stands up in the Capitol, and wastes the na- 
tion's time and money, and spits venom in the 
nation's face, while yet he hypocritically 
claims to be the nation's friend — I would say 
to him, go home and educate your daughters; 
and perhaps you may thereby, in another ge- 
neration, heal the wounds with which you 
have already made your country bleed. I 
would say to the patron of intelligence and 
refinement — if it were necessary- — educate 
your daughters, and ignorance and barbarism 
will take the alarm and fly away from all our 
borders. I would say to the philanthropist 
and the Christian — educate your daughters, 
and the glorious cause which you love — the 



31 

cause of truth and charity and piety, will grow 
and brighten under the influence. Yes, and 
I would say even to the humblest man in so- 
ciety — educate your daughters, though it be 
at the expense of tugging harder at the anvil, 
or of making a longer day in the field ; — for 
thereby you will elevate your daughters — you 
will elevate yourselves — and society and 
Heaven will bless you for it. 

But I am admonished that this train of re- 
mark may seem to have but little application 
upon the ground on which I stand ; for I see 
before me the evidence that female education 
here requires no new advocates. I congratu- 
late you that you have an institution in the 
midst of you which promises so much, which 
has accomplished so much, for the elevation 
of the female character. Let me say that the 
spot which you occupy, seems to me in de- 
lightful keeping with the rich advantages 
which this institution, with its twin brother 
for the other sex,* offers ; for if the sun shines 
upon a brighter, lovelier vale than this, I know 
it not. It is well for you that you are dispos- 

* An excellent school for boys under the superintendence of the Rev. 
Mr. Nash. 



32 

ed thus to conform the intellectual and the 
moral to the external and the natural ; so that 
there shall be a harmony between the voice 
of the soul and the melodies of the visible 
creation. I respectfully proffer to the young 
ladies in whose presence I have spoken, my 
best wishes for their continued improvement 
and happiness ; ■ — to their teachers, my thanks 
in behalf of society at large, for their exem- 
plary and successful efforts in the important 
station they occupy ; and to the respected in- 
habitants of this village, my sincere congratu- 
lations that they are doing so much to diffuse 
the influence of knowledge and virtue. When 
your children's children shall come back to 
this hallowed spot a century hence to keep 
another jubilee, and these skies shall look 
down on another and yet greater assemblage, 
and this valley shall once more ring with the 
shouts of welcome and of praise, may there 
be a generation of wives, and mothers, and 
daughters here, to join in the grateful services 
of that day, who shall be the living monu- 
ments of your fidelity to the cause of female 
education. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 646 455 4 # 



